Illean prep
by Roses323
Summary: America singer was just a regular girl, until she was accepted into Illean prep, the most prestigious university in the whole country. America must navigate her new life, meet new people, and get a college degree. Along the way she might meet a special someone, and an old friend might come back to haunt her... Modern au set in today's time.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is a modern version of the selection series! I hope you all like it, I'll try to get the characters right but I'm not Kiera Cass so they probably won't be perfect, tell me how to improve! Thank you guys!**

When my mother found out I was eligible for a scholarship to Illean prep university, she was ecstatic. She thought this would solve everything for me in life, rocket me to the top. I didn't consider myself a disobedient daughter but at some point I had to draw the line.

I didn't want to go to some preppy rich kids school, I didn't even want to try to get a scholarship. I was content just skipping college all together, my family couldn't afford it and I didn't need it.

I figured I could get a job without a college education. I could sing, I got jobs frequently.

I avoided contact with my mom ever since we had received the notice that I was eligible for the scholarship, but being the oldest in a household, meant I was responsible for helping with dinner.

I set the table for 5 as my mother prepared the chicken. After I set out all the dishes I went and helped my mom with the pasta. I got by with just a couple of glares from my mother. I could tell she wasn't pleased with me.

"It wouldn't kill you to at least apply, America." She said, no longer containing herself. I groaned, not wanting to talk about it.

"This scholarship could open so many doors for you." She continued with her speech. I knew it could. Our money was stretched as tight as high wire, anything free was a good thing in our family.

I should've been smart when I first saw the email in my inbox. I should've deleted it, forgotten about it all together. Sadly I didn't, I'd left the stupid email where my little sister, May, saw it.

May got all excited that I was going to go to the most prestigious college in the country, and she blabbed to mom about it. Now neither of them will stop bugging me about it.

Soon everyone was seated for dinner. May was just bouncing in her seat. We all began eating and finally she said something, I wish she hadn't though. May told everyone all about the email she'd saw on my computer, about how I could go to Illean prep university.

"America, this is wonderful!" My mother exclaimed as May carried on about every detail she saw. She hadn't just stopped there though. My mother carried on with it the whole meal.

"And of course everyone would love you there America, your beautiful!" She said.

"Please mom, if anything I'm average." I told her, I didn't like all the compliments.

"No your not average! Because I'm pretty and I look just like you!" May yelled, usually mom would tell May to be quieter at the dinner table, but since she was backing her up mom let it slide.

May was grinning from ear to ear, it was true May was beautiful. But it was so much more then her appearance, she had an award winning personality. She was kind, sweet, and caring. She radiated an energy that just made you want to be around her.

I turned towards my little brother, Gerard, for help. He was only 7, but he was smart.

"Gerard, do you think I'm pretty?" I asked. Everyone in the family looked over to stare at him.

"No! Girls are gross!" He yelled. I smiled smugly.

"Gerard, please." My mother said. She sighed, but I knew she wouldn't argue with Gerard. Nobody could be mad at him, he was the baby of the family.

"America, you must know you're a great girl." Mom continued. She really wasn't giving up this argument. All the meanwhile everyone else had given up on the conversation. It was just me and mom now.

"Even if I do apply, I'm not saying I will, but even if I do there is only a slight chance I will actually get the scholarship." I replied. I didn't want her to think I was giving in.

"But there's always that chance." My dad pipped in, which was his first comment about the whole conversation.

Me and mom argued the rest of the meal before she went to go give Gerard his bath. I cleaned off the rest of the plates and everyone had left by the time I was done except dad.

"I'm sorry dad." I muttered, he smiled and motioned for me to sit back down.

"Don't be silly kitten, I'm not mad at you." He said. He always knew how to reassure me. We talked for a bit and he told me I didn't have to apply. Then I went to do the dishes and clean off the table.

I wrapped up the little leftovers we had and hid them in the fridge, behind our carrots. I would, need them later.

Finally I was done and I went back to my room to get ready for bed. As I laid on my old mattress I thought about what might happen if I actually did go to Illean prep. I starred out my window, at the old treehouse in our backyard.

Soon midnight rolled around and I crept out of my room to go to the kitchen. Quietly I grabbed the leftovers I had wrapped and I snuck out the back door.

I ran out to the backyard, still in my pajamas, and started climbing the ladder to the treehouse. It was difficult with the food in my hands but I managed okay, just like I had every other night.

When I finally reached the top I was met with a sly grin.

"Hi, gorgeous." Aspen said as I sat down. I glared at him as I sat down the wrapped food.

"Please don't call me that, first mom and May and now you. It's getting annoying." He laughed a little.

He hungrily looked at the food I brought and I began unwrapping it. As worse off as my family was, his was much worse off. Aspen had to often give his food to his younger siblings, just so they wouldn't starve. So whenever I could manage I brought him any leftovers we had.

Before he started eating though, his lips crashed into mine and we were stuck in a trance. We could get in big trouble for these night excursions, it was breaking the cities curfew and our parents. Yet we still did it.

We broke apart and I couldn't help but smile. Finally he dug into the leftover chicken I'd brought him. He was starving, I could tell.

I told him all about the scholarship while he ate, and he was silent through it all. Finally he finished and I could tell he was grateful. It made me happy just to see he got some food.

He pondered something in his head for awhile before he spoke.

"Mer… I think you should apply for the scholarship." He said. I almost gasped. I looked at him with wide eyes as he sat there.

"Don't you realize that would mean moving all the way across the country? I couldn't do that, I couldn't not see you. I would miss you too much." I said. I was absolutely shocked he thought this was a good idea. I thought he'd agree with me on this.

He was looking me right in the eye and I could tell he was serious about this.

"Mer, if you had a chance for a better life and you didn't take it because of me, I couldn't live with myself." He told me. His breath was raspy and sugary.

"I probably won't even get picked anyways, the chances are so low." I said trying to talk him to my side.

"If they are so low then it won't matter if you apply anyways then, please just do this so I can sleep in peace at night, knowing I didn't stop you from great things."

"Aspen, I love you, I couldn't leave you." I pleaded. I wanted him just to side with me.

"Please?" He said and I broke. There was no way I could get chosen anyways so it wouldn't matter.

"Fine." I said and he smiled. He pressed his lips against mine again and I began to melt into him. It would all be okay because there was absolutely no chance I would leave here. I couldn't, it was to perfect.

He pulled back and looked at me for a minute.

"I love you America Singer." He said and then he began climbing down the ladder and into the night, soon after I went down and back into my room as well.

I snuck through the back door and back into my room. I laid down and soon I was fast asleep.

Just as soon as I closed my eyes, they were open again by the beeping of my alarm clock. It didn't even feel like a minute that I'd slept. I sighed and got up to shut off the evil beeping contraption.

I sighed, and reluctantly got dressed. I remembered my promise last night and as soon as I was ready for the day I sat down at my ancient computer and searched up the application.

It was fairly standard to fill out and I got it done before everyone barged in my room to try and convince me to fill out the application. I told them all that I already had.

Mom and May were over joyed. May kept going on about how I might meet the star quarter back and May's recent celebrity crush, Maxon Schreave. I told her if I did (which I wasn't planning on since I wasn't going to be picked anyways) I could give her a picture of him that was signed.

Mom decided that she was so happy, we would go into town and have a proper meal at a dinner. Everyone pulled into our little car and we headed off.

When we arrived we got a booth and everyone ordered. I got some pancakes, that were absolutely delicious. We didn't eat out often so this was a real treat for everyone. I felt bad though, they were splurging on some exciting thing, but I knew it wouldn't actually happen.

After we ate, as we were leaving the dinner we ran into Lena Leger, Aspens mother. She was walking to the house she cleaned for, mom stopped and talked for a while, and I stood next to her. Everyone else got back in the car.

Mom asked Lena how everyone was and finally she asked about Aspen.

"Oh he's good, I think he's saving up for a wedding though, he's stashing money left and right. I don't know about any special girl though." Lena told us. I was absolutely over the moon to hear that, I love Aspen and I wanted nothing more to marry him.

I couldn't stop grinning the rest of the day. I was just a ray of sunshine and nobody knew why, they probably assumed it was because of the application, but it was because Aspen was saving up to marry me. I would be 18 in less then a year and I could legally get married.

I didn't get to see Aspen until next until a couple of days until the applications were announced. I didn't care about that though, I was still thrilled about the saving he had done, for a wedding, for us.

I purposefully made extra food that night for dinner and I baked a cake just for the event. I wanted it to be a feast for us.

I got it all up to the treehouse early that night and I waited for him up there. I was afraid I'd be caught with as many trips as I made into the house, but nobody was awake at this hour. It was almost midnight.

Finally I heard him climbing the ladder and I prepared everything to be presented to him. I was so excited as I heard him climbing higher and higher.

At last he made it to the top and saw everything I had set out. His mouth was wide open and I thought that was a good thing.

"America… You shouldn't have done this." He said as he looked at everything I'd set out. I was confused, I thought he would be happy.

"What do you mean Aspen? I did this for you, because I love you." He shook his head at me a couple of times and then stuck his hand in his hair.

"I know, but I can't accept this, I was okay when it was just little leftovers America, but this, this is too much. I can't be your charity case." His stare was cold and he avoided my eyes.

"Aspen? I…I thought you would like this." I said, I was extremely confused now. I didn't know what to do.

"America, I was stupid to think this would ever work. I don't want to drag you down with me, I can't afford to do things for you. I can't provide." His voice was cold and I could see his breath huffing in the moonlight.

"Aspen, it's okay. We can manage, I love you." I said. I didn't know what was happening.

"I know, I love you too Mer, that's why I can't do this to you. I'm sorry Mer it's over." He didn't look at me, and instead focused on the planks of the treehouse as he said that. And just like that my whole perfect world shattered.

"But… Aspen?" Was all I could manage out. He came over to me and kissed me one last time before he descended into the night for the last time.

Quietly I cleaned up the feast I had set up and I went back inside. I was devastated inside.

I went to bed and I felt numb as I slipped to sleep.

When I woke up in the morning I was in a slump. My family seemed to notice, but they didn't say anything. They probably thought I was nervous to see if I got the scholarship.

The next few days I stayed in my slump and finally it was the day where the email would be sent out to those who got the scholarship for Illean prep. Only 35 of them would be chosen, and I had in all honesty forgot that it would be sent out today, May however had not.

All day she bugged me to check my inbox every 5 minutes, to see if there was any email from Illean prep university. I tried to keep her busy with baking but she would still remind me.

Finally it was almost 8:00pm and May was starting to lose hope that I'd been accepted. Mom told me to check on last time before I went to bed and I did. I was utterly shocked to see an email waiting for me when I checked.

I clicked it open and discovered it was indeed from Illea prep university. I opened it up and skimmed through it. They said they were incredibly impressed by my application and they would like to offer me a scholarship.

I sat there absolutely dumbfounded for the longest time. How? How out of he millions that applied had I actually gotten the scholarship?

When I didn't return to the kitchen after a while May came into my room. She screamed when she saw the open tab with an email from the university, and mom came rushing into my room as well.

"America! This is amazing!" Mom shouted and soon everyone was in my room. Gerard was dancing around, May was still shouting, Dad was grinning firm ear to ear, mom was getting really excited, and I was still sitting at my computer trying to process everything that had happened.

The phone rang and mom ran to the kitchen to answer it, she called out my name soon after and I got up to go see who it was.

"Hello?" I asked to whoever was on the other end on the line.

"America singer?" A mans voice asked.

"Yes, that would be me." I replied.

"Great! We don't know if you've checked your email yet but you might want to. Your application for the scholarship to Illean prep university has been accepted! I hope you know what an honor this is, only 35 students in the whole country got this opportunity. Will you accept the scholarship?"

I pondered the question for a bit, my plan had always been to say no, but right now I could use a break away somewhere else, plus he was right it was an honor, my application was chosen over hundreds.

"Yes." I said definitively. By now everyone was crowded around me.

"Ok great, we will send someone to brief you on the school before we fly you out to start your first semester. Expect him around three days."

"Uh okay. Thank you." I said, the man then hung up the phone and everyone was jumping with joy.

"We have to call the paper!" Mom yelled. I was still feeling hesitate about everything, but there was no backing out now.

"Or better yet, the news station!" Dad joined in.

Everyone was happy and excited and for the first time in days, I felt sort of excited as well. This would be a great fresh start, which right now I needed.

 **Ok so that's the end of chapter 1! Please review and give me your feedback! It would be much appreciated! I tried hard to keep it as close to the story as possible! Thanks so much!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi everyone! Time for chapter 2! I'm so excited and I hope you are too. Thanks for everyone who reviewed, they were all so nice and they made me so happy! Thanks!**

By the next day I was all over the local news station and in all of the newspapers. It was a big deal to have someone from such a little town going to such a prestigious school, and on a full scholarship.

I got a bunch of emails from the school regarding my schedule and dorm. After a day, they had my schedule all planned out accordingly and they had assigned me a dorm.

After three days, like promised, a man came to visit me and tell me about the school.

When he knocked mom ran eagerly to get the door, she had been waiting all day. She opened the door enthusiastically while I sat on the couch, laughing on the inside at her silly antics.

I heard mom rather loudly invite him in and they walked into the living room. Mom offered him a seat and he sat down across from me.

"Hello, miss America. Lovely little home you have here. Now let's get right to business. This is the school handbook." He paused for a second and handed me a book so big I would've thought it was a dictionary.

"It is expected that you read through it before your semester begins. It has all the rules of the school in it but briefly I will go over some key ones. There is a curfew of 10:00pm sharp, which will be heavily enforced. Also there will be no mingling between the female and male rooms after 8:00pm. You will be assigned your dorm when you arrive for your first day in a week, and if you have any questions about that look for a women named Silvia, she is your dorm manager."

He stopped for a minute and I nodded to show I was listening. He then continued his long speech.

"Everything will be payed for from your uniform to your food. You will receive your student ID, which will have a sticker on it. You can show it to the cashier when you're purchasing something and they will put it to the school, you have a limit of a thousand dollars with this and it will be renewed each semester. With this you can buy school supplies, food, and anything for recreational purposes so long as you don't go over your limit. Everything will be provided for you. Any questions?"

I thought for a minute but I couldn't think of any so I shook my head. He carried on with a few more rules and he told me about the campus a little. We also got my schedule all figured out.

Finally after about an hour he left. Me and mom were left sitting in the living room, trying to process everything.

After a bit mom decided we needed to start packing me now, though there wasn't much I needed to bring. Still she grabbed a bag and we began shuffling through my room to find stuff I would want to bring.

By the end of the day we had a small bag packed with stuff. Not much though. It really only consisted of some extra clothes just in case, my violin (which I was told I would have access to any musical instruments I wanted but I still decided to bring my own) and a couple of photos.

The week flew by in a whirl and soon I was leaving town to head for the airport. The whole town gathered to send me off, which was nice of them. I was smiling brightly and I waved a couple times at everyone. My eyes scanned the crowd for Aspen, and when I finally saw him I wished I hadn't.

His arms were wrapped around another girl, and he was smiling. I stopped in my tracks for a minute before continuing. When I glanced back in his direction the girl was gone and he had a sad expression. I didn't buy it though, I was done with his games.

I kept walking with my head held high and soon I reached the car that would take me to the airport. Quickly I said my goodbyes to my family (which I had already done at home) and then I entered the car to my new life.

The car ride seemed to last forever and I couldn't get the image of Aspen with that other girl out of my mind.

At last we arrived at the airport, and I boarded the plane quickly, with just my little bag. For traveling purposes I would be given my uniforms when I got to the school.

On the plane I got settled in and got prepared for the long ride. Sometime after we took off, I dozed asleep.

I woke up to a young flight attendant telling me that we had landed, and that I should exit the plane. My head felt a little hazy as I got up, but I figured it was just from the flight. I grabbed my little bag and walked off the plane.

I was greeted by a chauffeur holding a sign with my name on it. He led me to a car and he began driving me to the university. It was about an hour drive and I was worn out.

I watched out of the window and I decided to check my phone for any messages. A part of this scholarship deal was a brand new iPhone, which was very nice.

There one text on there for me, from Aspen. I had no idea how he got my number but I ignored it and blocked his number, I decided then and there that I was done all together with Aspen.

I called up my home number and it only rang three times before mom picked up.

"America?" She asked.

"Yeah it's me, just wanted to tell you guys that my flight went okay and I'm fine." I said.

Mom yelled something out and suddenly I was on speaker phone with all of my family.

"We miss you." Dad said, Gerard piggy backed on that and there was a bunch of 'yeahs' form everyone.

"Ames, don't forget! If you see Maxon ask him for an autographed picture for me!" I laughed and told her I would.

After a bit more conversation they had to go eat dinner, because there it was dinner time and here it was only about 4:00. The time differences were crazy.

I felt very light headed and I rolled down my window to get some fresh air on my face, it felt nice but I saw the driver glaring at me so I rolled it back up.

The rest of the drive wasn't very exciting, I just fiddled with my new phone, which was a huge improvement from my old one.

When we started to pull up to the university though, my mouth was wide open. The university was huge. Bigger then huge, it could've been a palace.

There were about five or six buildings that were bigger then my whole town it seemed like. The car pulled up and parked in front of one of the huge buildings. There was a table set up on the front which the driver instructed me to go to so I could sign in.

I exited the car and starred mouth wide open at everything. It was amazing. And huge.

I walked up to the table where I got all signed in and then I was pointed off to my room by a kind young man named Avery. When I opened the door to my room I was absolutely shocked.

Before me was a room so huge it could have ate my house. Well maybe not but it was definitely much bigger then my room back home. It had a flat screen tv, a huge couch, and there was about 4 doors leading off of it.

I opened one of the doors to discover it lead to a big walk in closet, filled with school uniforms and casual day clothes. I exited the closet to go and open the door beside it, which led into the biggest bathroom I'd ever been in. It had a tv facing the tub!

It was insane. I walked in the other two rooms to find one was my new bedroom and the other was a little balcony. I noticed there was only one bedroom though, so I didn't know if it would be mine or my roommates.

While I was still exploring my new home, the dorm manager, Silvia, came by to check on me. She asked if I had any questions.

"When will I meet my roommate?" I asked. She just laughed at me like it was obvious or some thing.

"This is all yours, there are no roommates at Illean prep." She said in a sing song voice.

I gasped again, I was expecting to share all this but it was just mine? That was insane. I told her thank you and she moved on to the next room.

I closed the door and explored my room a little more. It was beautiful and each time I turned around I saw another amazing thing.

While I was looking around the closet there was a knock at my door. I hurried and went to answer it.

When I opened the door I saw a friendly looking girl with beautiful blonde hair.

"Hi! I'm Marlee! I am in the dorm like directly across from you and I'm a freshman, I was one of the 35 to get a full scholarship!" She had this aura about her that just made me want to smile, she reminded me of May.

"Hi, I'm America. I also got one of the scholarships and I'm a freshman too." I said. Marlee was practically bouncing with excitement. I stuck my hand out for her to shake but she went right in for a hug.

It surprised me at first but it didn't bug me, she seemed really nice. After a minute she let me go and my head hurt all over again. I ignored it though.

"Would you like to come in, Marlee?" I asked and she nodded.

"I still can't believe how huge this place is!" She exclaimed as she bounced in. I laughed and agreed with her.

She sat down on the huge sofa I had and I sat next to her. And from that moment forth I knew me and Marlee would be great friends.

We talked for a long time about a lot of random stuff and I found myself really enjoying her company. She had to go back to her room after a while, to finish getting settled, but she told me she would be back to walk with me to the dining hall, if we could find it that is.

I spent the rest if the day trying to get used to everything. I took out the school handbook and looked for a map in it, I had read it all and I remembered seeing a map somewhere but I couldn't remember what page.

Finally after like half an hour of searching through the book I found the map. I ripped it out if the book and prayed it wouldn't get me in trouble. I was in room 101 and Marlee's was room 102.

With the map I was able to figure out which way me and Marlee would have to walk at least a little, I figured once we were outside we would follow the hoards of people to find our way there. It was all a little overwhelming.

Dinner started at 6:00pm sharp in the dining hall and Marlee was back at my room by 5:45 so we could figure out how to get there in time.

We wandered through the halls until we found an elevator that led to the first floor, and from there we found the main entrance to get out.

Then we just followed the hoards of people walking towards some building, which I assumed was the dining hall.

Me and Marlee got lost up in the crowd as we tried to make our way through the crowd. Suddenly I was thrust to the left by someone who had shoved me over. Luckily Marlee was standing right there and she caught me before I fell over.

"thanks." I breathed out as I caught my breath. She smiled at me and we continued on our track to try and make it inside.

Finally we were able to make it inside and we made our way to a small table near the back. Two other girls came up and asked if they could sit down, and we said sure. It was really loud but we tried our best to introduce ourselves.

"IM MARLEE, AND THIS IS AMERICA!" Marlee shouted so the girls could hear her. It sounded like a bomb had gone off in here or something.

"IM KRISS." The brunette girl hollered back, I waved to her and she waved back.

"AND IM NATALIE!" The other girl yelled, the noise started to die down and I sighed in relief. It was not helping my headache from earlier.

I smiled at the girls, Kriss and Natalie. They smiled back and I was about to say something when the time dean of the school, dean Clarkson, cleared his voice obviously wanting it to quiet down.

The Dean was standing on a balcony that over looked the entire dining hall. After it was silent enough he began to speak, he was loud and very clear as he spoke.

"Welcome, students. My ancestors built this school years ago, to help students get the best education. We have the best of everything here. I welcome all new students and I welcome back students from last year."

The dean spoke in such a way that I felt like I could get in trouble just for looking at him. He was a scary dude. After he finished speaking it went back to the louder volume and everyone began getting up to get there food.

"So what do you feel like?" I asked Marlee. There was just about every restaurant imaginable. She shrugged her shoulders at me, so I turned towards Natalie and Kriss. They looked at each other and then Kriss spoke up.

"Well we are both sophomores, which means we had to do all this figuring out last year, lucky for you we can share what we learned." They both smiled before they began talking, very fast.

"I wouldn't recommend subway, the lines always to long since it's one of the only vegan restaurants. Panda Express is okay but I don't think it's that great. McDonalds is accused of being so unhealthy your socially dead if you go there, and the same for Burger King. 5 guys burger and fries is good. But our favorite is the buffet. They make really good food fresh each day and the chefs here are amazing."

I was so surprised that all that went into simply choosing dinner. I looked over at Marlee, who seemed to be sharing my thoughts.

We got up and walked across the dining hall to the buffet, which by now most of the people had fled out of. We grabbed a plate and piled up on food. It all looked so good, and I wasn't used to having access to this much food.

All we had to do was show to cashier our student ID, with the stamp on it saying it was all paid for and then we could just leave. I couldn't believe it.

We walked back over to our little table in the corner and started eating, it was all delicious. We didn't talk much until we were all pretty much done.

"So, were you guys part of the scholarship deal this year?" Natalie asked. Both me and Marlee nodded.

"Nice, me and Kriss both got it last year." She told us. We chatted a little bit longer before we began walking back to the dorms. It was less crowded as we tried to leave the dining hall and we got out okay.

My head was hurting worse now but I just ignored it again. As it turned out Kriss was just three doors down from me and Natalie was just around the hallway.

Before we all went to our respective rooms Kriss asked for my phone. Hesitantly I handed it to her and she added her own to my contacts list. Natalie did the same and I plugged my number into each of there phones. After everyone had everyone's number we all went to our own rooms.

As me and Marlee walked down the hall a ways to our rooms we chatted a bit.

"They seemed really nice." Marlee noted. I nodded but my head was pounding so bad now that I didn't really feel like talking.

"Are you okay America?" Marlee asked me, she seemed to notice. I nodded and told her I just had a headache but I would be fine.

She went off to her room and I entered mine.

 **Okay so that concludes chapter 2! Thanks! Please review and tell me what you think, or how to improve. Much appreciated, thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! Chapter 3 is a go! This chapter picks up directly after the last one. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

After dinner, I was hanging out in my room and my headache seemed to get worse. I need fresh air. I went out to my little balcony, but it wasn't enough. I felt all claustrophobic on the tiny balcony and the air was doing nothing for me.

It was only about 8:00pm so I still had a couple hours before curfew. I decided it would be best if I went downstairs now and got some fresh air, before I was trapped in this room all night.

I had already changed unit my pjs so I threw on a robe and left my room, wandering around, looking for an exit to fresh air.

I walked for what seems like forever when finally I came across a couple of security guards by a door that led outside. I felt so dizzy and I was afraid I would collapse soon if I didn't get outside.

"Please, I need some air." I gasped. I didn't feel well at all.

"I'm sorry miss, please return to your room. We are instructed to not let anyone into the garden area after 8:00." One if them told me.

I pleaded for a while longer before I heard someone come up behind me. My legs started to feel weak and I had trouble standing.

"Oh for god sakes men, just let the poor girl out." A young man called behind me and the security guards agreed.

Finally I was out in the fresh air and I felt better. I collapsed near a stone bench and let the cool wind best on my face, and I let the oxygen enter my lungs.

I didn't bother to look up and see who had told them to let me out. I was to occupied with trying to breath.

Once I had finally caught my breath I looked up to see the one person I least expected to be here.

Maxon Schreave, son of the dean and the star quarter back was watching me as I struggled to breath. He refrained from speaking for a while but after he realized I was better he spoke. He seemed to be studying me, I didn't like it.

"Dear, are you okay?" He asked. I glared at him, I did not like him calling me 'dear' it was revolting.

"Don't call me that." I snapped at him. He backed up a little in surprise and soon he was talking again.

"Hey, what did I ever do to you? In fact I just let you out, which could technically get us both in trouble." He spoke in such a tone that just made me feel angry inside.

He had probably expected me to adore him, he was practically a celebrity. Only because he was born to the right family though. His family was the richest in the whole country.

I composed myself a little before I spat out a thank you. He infuriated me, even when he wasn't talking.

I was still leaning up against the stone bench so I got up and brushed myself off. He seemed almost amused by me. He extended his hand out, to help me but I think he quickly realized I wasn't going to take it.

My head felt clearer finally and I felt better, aside from my anger. Suddenly I remembered May telling me that if I ever met Maxon, I would ask for an autograph. There was no way that was happening now though.

"Would you like me to walk you back to your room?" He asked, I glared at him.

"No, I can manage on my own." I said, I had absolutely no idea how to get back but I figured I could figure it out. I calmed down a little bit though. I wasn't quite so furious anymore. He was smiling though, which annoyed me.

I was about to walk right past him when he grabbed my hand. Instinctively I snatched it back.

"I'm Maxon, by the way. What's your name?" He asked. I considered giving him a fake name, after all this was fairly embarrassing and I didn't need any of his rich friends to know who I was.

I sighed before deciding I would just tell him my name.

"America singer." I said and then I walked past. I didn't turn around and once I was around the corner I started sprinting. After about half an hour of wandering I finally made it back to my room.

I went straight to bed and I slept peacefully through the night. My headache was now cured.

I jerked my head awake to a foreign sounding beeping. At first I thought I was at home and May was trying to wake me up, but when I forced my eyes open I saw I was in my dorm room.

I got up and shut off my alarm. It was weird to wake up in such a strange room. I remembered everything from last night, meeting Maxon and all. I groaned at the memory.

I felt sorta bad because I was a huge jerk to him last night, not that he probably didn't deserve it, but still. It would probably wouldn't matter anyways, I probably won't run into him again. He was practically a major celebrity, May had posters of him in her room. I was a girl from a town so small this campus could swallow it whole.

I checked my phone to see about 15 text messages. One from Kriss asking where I went last night and the rest from Marlee, either asking the same question or telling me good morning. She was an early riser and I had texts from as early as 6:00am.

I looked over at the clock to see it was 8:00am. Classes didn't start for another week so I had the whole say to do whatever I pleased.

I texted Marlee back and told her I was up, then I trudged into the living room area in my dorm and plopped down on my couch. It was so comfy I almost fell asleep again.

Suddenly there was a knock at my door. Half awake I opened it up to reveal Marlee, all dressed and nice standing there.

I looked cruddy compared to her, I had horrible bed head.

"America! Your not ready yet? We have to go explore!" Marlee called out. I let her in and she came in and sat on my couch.

"I value my sleep." I responded. She laughed and I smiled.

"Come on though, I want to see everything before we have to start taking classes!" She hollered and I groaned.

"I was actually thinking if going back to bed." I said, she frowned, but when she saw me grinning she realized I was only teasing.

"Okay, okay. Just let me take a shower. I'll be out in 30 minutes." I replied and she clapped excitedly.

"Great, because I couldn't explore without my best friend!" She bounced up form my couch and headed towards the door.

"You know, I've only known you for a day." I said and she laughed some more. Marlee bound off across the hall to her room and she waved at me before she entered her own room again.

I sighed and reluctantly went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. After I showered I went into my closet and picked out a blue sweater and some jeans, along with matching blue flats. I brushed out my mangled red hair and I was ready.

I grabbed a cross body bag from my closet and I put my phone and ID card in it. Then I exited my room and walked over to Marlee's. As soon as I knocked I heard hurried footsteps run up to the door and a second later Marlee answered and let me in.

I didn't know what to expect but her room looked exactly like mine, except it had all her stuff sprawled all over the place, unlike me she had brought a bunch of stuff from home.

"Great!" She hollered as she saw me. Then she began to name off things she wanted to see today.

"We have to go to the spa! I hear it's great! Also the game room, that'll be fun. Oh and we are meeting up with Kriss and Natalie at lunch, so they can show us around and such." Marlee told me. She grabbed a bag that was laying on her couch and then we headed out the door.

Marlee must've studied where we were going because she told me when to make a left, or a right. We made it to the front door much faster then last night.

She then proceeded to pull a map of the University from her purse. She studied it for a moment there he started walking right.

"This way!" She called out, not many people were out and about yet. It was only 8:45 in the morning.

Marlee pulled me every which way and soon we were standing in front of some sort of large building. In front of it was a sign that read "recreational building" which I figured meant where we were going to be spending most of our free time.

We walked inside and directly by the door there was a directory, which showed us everything we could do in the recreational building. There was a spa, a gym, a movie theater, and just about everything in between that we could do.

"Come on!" Marlee hollered at me after she checked her phone for the time.

"Marlee slow down, we have plenty of time!" I yelled back as she tugged on my arm. I tired to get her to slow down but she wouldn't. People were starting to stare. It was probably obvious we were freshmen.

"Come on! I made an appointment for the spa at 9:00 and we are going to be late!" She pulled on my arm again. By now everyone in the building probably heard us, it was embarrassing. Quickly I quieted Marlee and she pulled me along to an elevator.

"Sorry!" I called out to all the people in the room. Marlee pulled me onto the elevator and I pulled my phone out of my small bag to check the time, it was 8:53. Marlee slapped the button for the third floor and we started moving.

Soon the elevator stopped and we were on the third floor. There was a map of the floor and Marlee stopped only briefly to study it. Before I even had a chance to make sense of it Marlee grabbed my arm again and pulled me down a hallway to the left.

We stopped in front of a door with a big neon sign above it. It read "spa" so I figured we were in the wrong place. Slowly I grabbed the handle and pushed it in.

Inside was a huge room with so many beauty things. There was a desk near the front with a young woman sitting at it. Marlee walked up and told her we had a 9:00 appointment. The lady checked her book then nodded, confirming that we did indeed have a 9:00 appointment.

She pointed us to a little area to the left and we headed that way. We sat in a waiting area for a minute or so and I decided to text back Kriss.

 _"Sorry went out for some air_ " I texted. A minute later she replied.

 _"Oh heard you leave last night and saw your through the peep hole, wanted me make sure you were okay. See ya at noon."_ She texted.

A women came over and led Marlee to a station and a minute later a women came and led me to a different station.

"Hello, my name is Anne I will be your stylist today. What would you like done?" The women told me. Anne smiled at me and then walked up two other young ladies.

"Hi, what are your names?" I asked the two new girls. They looked at each other in shock.

"This is Lucy, and I am Mary. We are here to assist Anne." Mary quickly replied. Lucy stood silently and she nodded. I smiled at them, they seemed nice and probably taken for granted a lot.

"Well, I don't really know what I want done, you see my friend, Marlee, she sort of made this appointment and I don't know why. So just feel free to do whatever you'd like, what do you think will look good?" I asked turning my attention to Lucy.

She looked startled but she smiled after a minute.

"I think your hair would look very nice with layers in it." She commented and the other two nodded. I don't know what 'layers' are exactly but I trusted they knew what they were doing.

"And a natural makeup look, you already have flawless skin." Mary added. My cheeks turned a bright red and I thanked her for the compliment.

They carried off on things they could do and I agreed with all of it. They were trained in this sort of thing whereas I only wore a tiny bit of makeup, when I performed.

Mary led me over to a shampoo station and laid me back to start washing my hair. Once she was satisfied that my hair was clean she started blow drying it out and Lucy came over to help.

"You have very beautiful hair miss." Lucy said quietly. She smiled as she stroked the soft strands. Anne then walked over as well.

"Thank you, and please call me America." I told her. She smiled a little and the other two girls did as well.

After my hair was all dry Mary sat me up and got out a pair of scissors. They combed out my tangled red hair and then she held out a piece and snipped it. She continued in specific spots and after a while Anne walked over with some makeup stuff.

"Pucker up please." Anne said and I did. She painted on some sort of light pink color on my lips and then she moved onto my eyes. Occasionally Anne would consult Lucy on my makeup and they would discuss some sort of alternative, or they would talk about what to do next.

They added some sort of mascara or something and then they put some gold eyeshadow on my eye lid. They added some more sort of makeup but I closed my eyes, so I didn't see what they out on. It felt good to have the brush on my face.

They started playing with my hair more and soon the brushes stopped moving on my face.

"Open your eyes." Anne instructed and I did. All three of them spun me around and I faced the mirror. I felt like I didn't recognize the girl I saw, but at the same time she was all too familiar. I looked gorgeous, just enough to make my features more prominent, but not enough to make my face looked caked or fake. It was very light and natural.

As for my hair, they cut it in such a way that the light caught it beautifully. It was so soft now as well. I liked it, a lot.

"Thank you ladies. I love it." I told them. They all smiled.

"Thank you, America. People usually aren't so kind to those who work for them." Mary told me. Lucy nodded her head slightly, as did Anne.

I smiled at them before getting up to leave. I thanked them again and then walked back to the waiting area. Marlee walked out a minute later. She looked absolutely stunning. She had gotten a natural eye makeup look, but a bold and beautiful red lip. Her hair had highlights and it was trimmed. She was smiling as she bounced towards me.

"America! You look beautiful! And so effortlessly and naturally! I'd say this look really fits you." Marlee told me. I smiled and replied.

"Thank you, and you Marlee! You look absolutely stunning! I love what you did with your hair, and your lips! You look beautiful." I told her. She blushed a little.

We stopped by the front desk again and showed our ID's to her, she put it on our tab. The. We walked out and took a right to the elevator.

"We should check out the gym, if you know what I mean." Marlee said as she moved her eyebrows up and down.

"Marlee I don't-" I started but she cut me off.

"America! Pleeeeasssseee." She pleaded.

"I came here to get over boys, and breakups." I told her.

"Well I'm single and ready to mingle!" She hollered in a song song voice. I laughed, and she smiled, knowing she had won. She reminded me so much of May in that moment that it was almost crazy they weren't the same person.

"Come on." She said as she pulled me into the elevator. She clicked the button for the 5th, and highest floor. We started to go up.

"I want to see some cute guys working out." Marlee said with a day dreamy expression. I laughed and then she turned to me.

"By the way, I expect to learn about this "boys and heartbreak" when we get back to the dorms tonight." She told me and I just glared off into empty space. I will not be looking forward to telling Marlee all about Aspen.

The elevator finally stopped on the 5th floor and we stepped off into the hallway. There were two doors. Oh and a tag by it that said 'pool' and the other said 'gym' I decided to make one last attempt to stop Marlee.

"Marlee, please. I don't feel well." I said as I tugged on her sleeve. She shook me off and kept pulling me along. I sighed and agreed. It really wasn't that big of a deal.

"Ok fine." I said. She laughed and pulled me along to the door that said 'gym' she pushed open the door and immediately I was overwhelmed with stench and very loud music.

"Remind me again why you wanted to come here." I said holding my nose.

"That's why." She said pointing to a young man running without a shirt, on a treadmill.

"Oh god Marlee, can't we just go." I complained.

She surveyed the room one last time and finally gave up.

"Ok, ok. I surrender, let's go." She said while waving her hands in the air.

"Thank you." I said semi sarcasticly. She laughed and we walked out the door. We got back in e elevator and the door began to close.

"Hold the elevator!" Someone yelled as they came rushing towards us.

 **Ok so chapter 3 complete! Yay! Thanks for reading. Please review and tell me what you thought! Thanks!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi! Time for chapter 4! Please review at the end of the chapter and tell me what you thought! Now into the chapter!**

 _"Hold the elevator!" Someone yelled as they came rushing towards us._

* * *

Instinctively I stuck my hand in front of the door, so it wouldn't close. As soon as I saw who it was though, I realized it was a mistake.

Maxon came jogging up to the elevator and he got in.

"Crud!" I muttered under my breath as I tried to hide behind Marlee. She looked confused and then she looked up to see Maxon standing right beside her.

"Oh my god." She breathed. Maxon was looking down at his phone and hadn't yet acknowledged us.

Suddenly Maxon looked up and I ducked down even further behind Marlee. She never took her eyes off Maxon, but Marlee whispered to me.

"What are you doing?" She whispered. I shushed her and Maxon was staring at us.

"America?" He asked. Marlee turned around revealing me. She had her eyebrows raised in question.

Realizing I was caught, I stood up. Marlee looked very confused but she focused her attention back on Maxon.

"Uh... Hi." I said. Marlee was still staring at Maxon with disbelief. The elevator seemed to slow down, it was painfully awkward.

Marlees eyes kept flinging between me and Maxon, I glared at her, pleading for her not to say anything. The ride couldn't get over sooner.

I stared up at the ceiling and prayed for the elevator to hurry up. When I finally lowered my face back to Maxon his eyes looked into mine before they flickered over to Marlee.

"Maxon Schreave." He said extending his hand towards Marlee. She simply stared at his arm for a moment for a minute before realizing he wanted her to shake his hand.

"Oh... I'm Marlee... Tames." She said as she blushed vigorously. She finally shook his hand and then she dropped it to her side.

He turned towards me again and I really wanted nothing more then to disappear. He nodded his head towards me and said hello. I stared off at the door, waiting for the moment it would finally open.

At long last the elevator doors opened and I got out of there as fast as I could, when I exited however I noticed my partner in crime was nowhere to be seen. I turned around and saw Marlee was still standing in that elevator, talking to Maxon. He handed her back her phone as she bounded over to me.

Quickly I grabbed her arm and dragged her out the door, once we were a safe distance away I finally breathed.

"That was mortifying." I said as we began walking to the dining hall, it was almost time to meet Kriss and Natalie.

"Did you already know him? Did you meet Maxon Schreave, THE Maxon Schreave and then not tell me!" She hollered. I smiled sheepishly.

"Sorta..." I said. I did not feel like explaining my horrible encounter last night with the prize quarter back. Marlee scoffed at me lack of giving details and finally she let it go.

"Well anyways, he gave me his number!" She squealed as we were about 10 steps from the door to the dining hall. I sighed and rolled my eyes at her. Marlee was kind, beautiful, and soooo incredibly sweet. A man like Maxon was someone, I feel would take her for granted.

We walked into a bustling dining hall, there were already lots of people there. We made our way to the little table we ate at last night to find Natalie sitting at the table already.

"Hey, nice hair. Did you get extensions?" Natalie asked, pointing at Marlee. She nodded, I hadn't noticed.

"Where's Kriss?" I asked. Natalie motioned her head behind me and I turned around to see Kriss walking up. Me and Marlee sat down and Kriss trailed behind, sitting next to Natalie and Marlee. I had a feeling she did not want to sit next to me in particular.

Marlee was gushing over her number from the star quarter back, but Natalie and Kriss were both unamused.

"Kriss and Maxon dated last year." Natalie told her. We both looked at each other than at Kriss. Marlee repeatedly said sorry and she asked what had happened.

"I don't know, we sort of grew apart over break." Kriss told Marlee. It was really awkward.

"It's fine though, we are still friends." She followed up. Marlee let out a gasp of air and looked relieved. After that we all got up and got our lunch.

When we reaturned to our table with our food, we sat down and ate silently. Just as I took a bite of some great mashed potatoes the doors burst open and in walked a whole rowdy group of young men. As I examined them I realized it was the football team. I just rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to my food.

After a couple of minutes I noticed Kriss, Natalie, and Marlee all looking at something behind me with dreamy eyes. Slowly I turned around, feeling like a girl in a horror movie about to discover an axe murder. Standing behind me was none other then Maxon Schreave, the quarter back.

A slow smirk spread across Maxons face as he saw me turn around.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to turn around." He said with a smile. I simply rolled my eyes in reaturn and he sat down in the empty seat next to me, apparently he took that as a gesture of "sit down"

I glared at him for a minute before focusing my attention back on the delicious plate of food set before me. I heard the scooting of chairs and noticed several other football players pulling up chairs around the table.

Marlee, Kriss, and Natalie were having the time of there lives, fawning over all the guys, while I was simply sort of annoyed. The whole time I could feel Maxons eyes on me, and it made me quite uncomfortable.

"America is it?" He asked finally speaking. I set down the French fry I was about to eat and turned towards him.

"Yes it is, and I know I've heard your name before but could you remind me of it?" I replied with complete and utter sass. Everyone turned towards me, sort of shocked I suppose. In all the silence Maxon started laughing and everyone eased up. They treated him like royalty or something.

Everyone began conversing and I sat silent. Finally I finsihed my food and got up to reaturn my plate. I put the plate with the other dirty plates then I went and sat back down.

After a while I was so bored with the conversation. It was mostly flirting, which I didn't want to partake in. I got up and talked to Marlee before leaving.

"I'm going back to my dorm." I told her quickly before turning around. She grabbed my wrist with a puppy dog face.

"America! Please stay! We have the rest of the day to explore!" She exaggerated. I rolled my eyes at her, and then turned around and said goodbye to everyone.

"I'll come with you." Maxon said standing. I groaned on the inside but didn't disagree. I simply started walking.

After a bit he caught up to me. Just as I was about to push the door open, his arm stuck out in front of me, opening the door.

"Thanks." I told him as I walked through the door. Other then that I didn't say a word.

"So'd you sleep okay after your panic attack or whatever?" He asked. He kept running his hand through his hair.

"Yeah, I was feeling sick." I replied shortly. I did not want to talk about our encounter last night.

"Oh." He replied. Suddenly his back straightened up, as if it was an impulse. The dean, Maxons father, walked past. He didn't seem to notice his son who was just a couple feet from him.

After he was past Maxon let out a huge breath. I looked at him for a minute before I started walking again. It was apparent he only tried to stand straighter because his dad was there.

We didn't talk much the rest of the way to the dorms. He tried asking me questions but I sort of brushed them off with simple answers.

Eventually we climbed the stairs to my room and I opened the door with my key. Maxon said goodbye and then headed off to wherever his room was.

I sat down on my couch and flipped on the tv, to see what was on. I ended up watching the lion king and I was right in the middle of watching Simba meet Nala again when there was a knock on my door.

I muted the tv and got up to get the door. When I looked through the little peep hole I saw Marlee staring at the door. I laughed a little and opened the door.

I let her in and she bound in with pep in her step. She took a seat on the edge of the couch and I walked over and sat by her.

"So? Any particular reason you came here?" I asked. She hadn't said anything since coming in. She had a daydreamy expression.

"Ahhh" was all she said. I laughed a little, she was acting crazy. Finally she stopped day dreaming and turned towards me.

"That was a really fun lunch." She said plainly. I wanted to disagree with her, it was not fun for me, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings so I just nodded along with her.

"So, what'd you and Maxon do?" She asked, she seemed to be more in tune with the fact that we were in life now, not a daydream world.

I looked at her with an eyebrow raised and she just laughed. She poked my belly and I jumped a little before doing the same to her. We were both laughing our heads off by the time we were done with our poking war.

"Maxon totally likes you." Marlee said after I'd moved away from her, so she couldn't poke me. I lifted my head off of the back of the couch, where it was resting, to look at her.

"You're crazy." Was all I told her. She just kept laughing.

"You know it's true!" She hollered I between laughs. I threw a pillow that was sitting on the couch at her and she caught it.

"Seriously though, he was staring at you the whole time, even when you went to put your plate up." Marlee said after the laughing subsided.

After a while Marlee got up and walked to her dorm while I laid down and slept. I was exhausted.

 **Ok so yay! Chapter 4! I need your guys opinion on something that I'm unsure about... Should carter be a security guard or a college student because I sorta wanna make carter and Maxon like buddies or something but having him be a security guard would fit the book more. Also what scenes from the boom do you guys think I should incorporate into this story? Any help would be much appreciated thanks guys!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone! First thing first, thank you everyone who reviewed and answered my questions! It helped a lot! You all agreed Carter should be a student so that he shall be! Please continue giving me ideas about what scenes to add and how to incorporate into this story! It helps a ton! Thanks guys!**

 _We were swimming in a sea, a sea of people. Me and Marlee swerved through the crowd but it was no use. I got shoved over to the side and just as I was going down I saw someone catch me. I looked up to see Aspen standing there, me in his arms. I gasped and then slowly his face morphed. His dark locks turned honey blonde and his sharp green eyes transformed into chocolatey brown. He was changing into Maxon. Started I fell to the ground crushing my skull on the impact with the ground._

Suddenly my alarm went off, awakening me from the strange dream. I shook my head groggily and tried to get out if bed to shut off the annoying beeping noise. I tried to dismiss the dream, but it left an unsettling pit in my stomach. It was the first time I'd thought of Aspen since I'd got here. Not to mention that his face turned into Maxons, which was very creepy.

I pushed it to the back of my mind and after turning off my alarm headed into my living room area and sat down on my couch. I felt like just sitting, doing nothing.

My phone went off and for a minute I thought it was Marlee, calling me for another day of adventure but when I saw the number I realized it was my family. It was only 8:00am here but because if time differences it would've been almost 11:00am, the time differences were messing with my head.

I answered my phone and heard lots of shouting, then someone shushed everyone and mom said hi.

"Hi mom." I said. Everyone erupted again and once again someone hushed them. I talked with them for a bit, they asked all about how college was going so far. I told them it was fine and I wouldn't start classes for another week.

Right in the middle of talking to May there was a knock on my door and I told her I would be right back. I set down my phone and looked through the peep hole, sure enough it was Marlee.

I invited her in and I told her I was talking to my family.

"Hi America's family!" She said cheerfully. I told them that she was my friend that I'd met here and they kept trying. To ask her questions. Finally I told them I had to go, I felt bad about keeping Marlee that long.

"Okay bye mom, yeah. Bye. Love you. Bye." I said and finally they hung up. I set down my phone and turned my attention to Marlee.

"They were nice." Marlee said. I laughed and then she told me why she came by.

"Well... Yesterday I sort of promised a few of the football players to go see a movie with us, Kriss, Natalie, their friends. It'll be fun!" Marlee said enthusiastically.

"Wait... When did this happen?" I asked.

"Oh at dinner last night, you slept right through it. I tried calling you a few times. Maxon even offered to come check on you but I said just let her sleep." Marlee told me. I'd completely forgotten about missing dinner.

The thought if having not eaten since yesterday afternoon made my stomach growl. I was starving. I grabbed a granola bar from my cabinet as Marlee continued to tell me how we were going to go see a movie.

I sighed, rolled my eyes, and finally agreed with her. It was hard to disagree with Marlee. Plus it beat my original plan of laying on the couch and watching "say yes to the dress"

Finally I shooed Marlee out and I got ready. I took a quick shower, dried my red locks, and finally attempted applying some of the makeup the stylists had shown me yesterday. I failed so I ended up just wiping it off and settling for a little lip gloss.

I threw on a royal blue sweater and some jeans, along with some flat shoes, and headed over to Marlee's dorm.

I barely knocked once before the door flew open and I almost hit her right upside the head.

"Oh! Hi!" She exclaimed when she opened the door. She invited me in while she walked back into her bathroom and curled her hair. After a while she finished, grabbed a yellow cross body purse, and walked out the door without a clue where she was going.

"Marlee!" I yelled at her as she moved quickly down the stairs. She was moving really fast in front of me.

"We're gonna be late America! Hurry!" She yelled back as she stopped, grabbed my wrist, and rushed off again.

"Marlee you don't even know where you are going!" I hollered in reply. She stopped for a minute and looked me dead in the eye.

"Your right!" She exclaimed panicked. She was looking around in a confused manor and finally ran towards a girl, probably a little older then us.

"Where is the theater?" She asked the random girl politely. It was crazy how fast she could go from insanely worried to completely calm. The girl pointed us towards a smaller building next to the rec building we went to yesterday.

As fast as she had calmed down, Marlee immediately went back into panic mode and she ran off, yelling a quick thank you to the girl that had pointed out the theater.

I quickly thanked the girl then ran to try and keep up with Marlee. She was surprisingly fast, and I was doing a horrible job of keeping up with her.

Finally she stopped in front of the doors, readjusted her hair, waited for me to catch up, and then we walked in together. The small lobby was fairly full and as we walked near a whole heard of people greeted us. I had no idea who half of them were. I recongnized a girl named Celeste (who was a model), Kriss, Natalie, and Maxon.

I uncomfortably shrunk behind Marlee, immediately regretting coming. Apparently at dinner last night Marlee had made quite a few new friends.

Marlee socialized while I walked over and talked to Kriss. I still didn't believe she liked me very much but she was at least nice.

"Who are these people?" I whispered in a hushed tone to Kriss. She laughed a little then began pointing people out.

"That's Celeste. Her parents are practically as rich as the Schreave's who own this school. Then that's Carter, he's a line backer and Maxons best friend." She paused for a moment pointing to the two.

"Her name is Tuesday, that's Tiny over there, and standing next to them is Ashley." She added pointing to a group of three girls.

"Tuesday? Tiny? These are some strange names." I whispered back. Kriss giggled and replied.

"I don't think those are there actual names, everyone just calls them that." She said. She went on like this pointing out lots of people. There was like 35 people here.

Eventually everyone in the room had been named and after standing around for a minute someone brought up the idea of going into the theater.

The huge heard of people started walking and I trailed near the end. Kriss jumped in and started talking to a girl, Elise I think was her name. I was left alone.

When it came my turn to show my card to the man standing between us and the door, he nodded and then I walked in. There were two doors and then the hallway turned to the left. Everyone enter the second door, so I followed suit. After a minute if loud confusion I saw Marlee again.

"What movie are we even seeing?" I asked her. She simply shrugged her shoulders.

"I dunno!" She said with pep in her voice. She sat down in the third row from the top, next to a guy I recognized as Kriss saying was Carter. I plopped down next to her. Someone sat down next to me, I assumed it was Kriss so I was surprised when I saw Maxon sitting next to me.

He was grinning from ear to ear, and I could still tell he was smiling when the lights went down. I tried to ignome the fact he was still watching me while I focused my attention on the large screen before us.

After _way_ to many ads the movie finally began. Throughout the whole movie I noticed Maxon glancing over at me while I tried to focus on the movie.

We were watching 'The Blind Side' which was a nice mix for the football people and the girls here. A happy medium for everyone. It was a good movie, very sad. I enjoyed it a lot though, my family never went to theaters often, so it was a treat.

After it ended I stayed sitting for a minute. Everyone around me got up, but I sat for a while longer. I was too comfortable sitting there. I could've fallen asleep there.

Finally Marlee started leaving so I figured I should catch up with her. I stood abruptly and my legs felt all wobbly. My right foot had fallen asleep sometime during the movie and I was paying the price for it now.

I stomped my foot a few times to try and wake it up. Maxon, who was standing beside me now, gave me a weird look.

"What are you doing?" He asked. I stomped my foot again a couple more times and it finally woke up.

"My foot fell asleep." I said blandly. He laughed a little and I smiled. Marlee was right at the door so I rushed to catch up to her. Maxon trailed behind me the whole time, it was sort of unsettling.

I followed Marlee until she finally stopped in the lobby. She was talking to Natalie and I walked over and joined them.

 **Ok this will conclude chapter 5! Thank you all for reading! I would love your opinions about more stuff so please review! Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone! Thanks for reading chapter 6 of Illean prep! Without further ado here we go!**

After the movie, I met up with Marlee and Natalie in the lobby. They were talking about the movie, and Marlee's newest obsession with the guy she sat next to, Carter. Natalie was listening intently, though I doubted she really cared.

Another girl walked up and stood next to Natalie. After a minute Natalie turned and noticed the girl, a sharp squeak escaped her lips as she jumped.

"Elise!" Natalie yelled as she threw her arms around the girl. Elise stood there, a faint smile on her face. They caught up a little and soon Marlee joined in the conversation. I simply stood there awkwardly as more people walked up that Natalie knew. Celeste, Ashley, Fiona, Tiny, Tuesday. I barley remembered Kriss pointing out who was who.

Finally Kriss walked up and they all talked in a group. I was left out because I didn't know anyone, so I walked over and sat down on a bench near the door.

To my surprise someone sat down next to me, and when I looked up it was none other then Maxon. He seemed to be everywhere.

"Hello." He said after a moment. I tried to decipher what he was doing. Was he purposefully following me? It was getting sort of weird.

"Hi" I replied sheepishly. I really didn't know what was going on. We sat in silence for a minute.

A couple of the football players walked through the door, by the bench, and asked if Maxon was coming. He said he'd be there in a bit and I found myself wondering why he was sitting here with me in the first place.

It was awkwardly quiet for a few more moments and I thought about standing up and joining Marlee again. Just when I was about to go through with my plan, Maxon spoke.

"You know, we should go on a walk around the gardens sometime, since you like the gardens and all." He said.

I suddenly understood what he was trying to do. Maxon was asking me out. I started panicking, I didn't want to get into a relationship, though I'd bet Marlee, and for that matter May, would kill me if I didn't accept.

I decided it would be best if I shut it down immediately. I didn't want to get into anything.

"Uhhhhh" I stuttered for a while, trying to find the right words. I could see his face dropping and I felt bad.

"I'm not looking for a relationship right now." I blurted out. I felt awful, that was really blunt. He seemed sad for a moment but he quickly replaced his sadness with a smile.

"Ok, I understand. What about friends?" He asked, still with his cheesy smile. It felt like a truce. Or an agreement. I nodded my head slightly. It would be nice to make more friends around the school.

He smiled again.

"Great." He replied before glancing up at the clock.

"Well, I'm going to be late for practice if I don't hurry. Bye America." He said as he got up, and I found myself wondering what had just happened. It was so weird.

I sat on the bench for a while after Maxon left, waiting for Marlee mostly. She was still chatting with the other girls. I wondered what had just happened and whether I handled it correctly.

Had he even been asking me out? I may have just made a bigger fool of myself by assuming that. I was fairly certain in the moment but now I'm not so sure. Either way, what I said was true. I wasn't ready to be leaping into new relationships yet. It was much too soon for that. After all mine and Aspens relationship had ended not more then a couple of days ago.

It seemed like so much longer though. So much has happened in the last few days, it was insane really. My life has flipped upside down, and I'm still debating wether it's good or not. I think it's good though.

After a while Marlee split from the group and I was relieved when she walked over after saying her goodbyes.

"So what'd you and Maxon talk about?" she asked with a wiggle of her eyebrow. I had to laugh a little about this, she looked so ridiculous.

Marlee waved one last time at the group of girls still standing in the lobby, then she turned and opened the door. I followed her out.

I contemplated telling her or not. It seemed really weird. Plus I may or may not turned him down, depending on if he had actually asked me out.

"Well... Uh... I don't really know." I said trying to dodge the question. Marlee wasn't buying it.

"What does 'I don't know' mean, America?" She asked, pressing further into a subject I didn't want to discuss.

We started walking towards the dorm rooms and I managed to make it all the way into the hallway leading up into my room before Marlee pried again.

"Americaaaaaa." Marlee whined and I knew I couldn't avoid it anymore. I opened up my door and motioned for her to follow me in. I didn't want to mention anything in the hallway, where lots of people could likely hear us.

I plopped down on the couch and Marlee plopped down next to me.

"I think he asked me out, but I'm not really sure." I said once we were both siting. Marlee's face was priceless and I wish I had a camera to capture it. She was so confused and shocked.

"What does 'I think' mean?!" She asked quickly. I almost laughed.

"Well, he asked if I wanted to walk around the gardens. I shut it down though." Marlee stared at me in disbelief after I said that. She looked so dumbfounded and it was almost hard to hold in a giggle.

"You are telling me you turned down, the star quarter back, a celebrity?! How high are your standards America?!" Marlee asked, shocked. I let out a small giggle, I couldn't help it. She was just so confused.

"But he offered to be my friend." I added, and Marlee's jaw just dropped further.

"America. Singer. Please tell me you did not just friend zone, celebrity, star quarter back, Maxon Schreave. I knew I shouldn't have left you alone over there!" She called out, throwing her arms in the air.

I laughed a little more. She was completely flabbergasted by this notion, that I did not want to go out with Maxon Schreave. Marlee's reaction reminded me of what May would do if she found out. She might have a heart attack.

Marlee did not seem to find it as funny as I did, though she did laugh a little.

"Seriously America, why would you turn him down though?!" She asked once again, and I took a moment to contemplate the answer.

I stopped laughing and replied seriously.

"Well, one, I don't even know if he was actually asking me out, or just being friendly, and two, I just got out of a two year relationship, where I thought he would propose. Instead he broke up with me." I said, frowning at the memory of the night in the treehouse.

Marlee's annoyed face turned sympathetic and her gaze softened.

"Oh... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pressed into it." She said and I shrugged it off. I did not want anyone feeling bad for me. After a bit the awkward silence subsided, and Marlee didn't pry any further into the subject. We started chatting about the latest news, and other stuff, such as what she had been talking about with the other girls.

Then, after a little while, she left to go get lunch with her new friends. She offered to let me come along, but I told her I didn't want to. I just stayed in my room, and figured I would go down to the dining hall later, and grab a bite to eat. I really just felt like resting. It had been a big couple of days and I was still adjusting to the time zones.

After a while of resting my eyes by laying on the couch, there was a knock on my door. I thought it would be Marlee, saying she forgot something, or that she remember something she wanted to tell me, so I yelled for them to enter.

The door knob moved quickly and I sat up a little, waiting for them to enter.

Imagine my surprise when it was indeed not Marlee, but Maxon Schreave once again.

"Hello" he said, standing in the doorway. I frowned, try to figure out why he kept showing up everywhere.

"What're you doing here?" I asked. He just grinned his stupid goofy grin. His hands were shoved in his pockets.

"We're going on a walk through the gardens." He replied, grinning. I was just looking up at him from my couch, a confused expression plastered on my face.

"Uh... I don't know if I was clear or..." I struggled to explain, it was weird enough the first time. He was obviously not getting my message that I was trying to send: I am not interested.

"I know, I know. Friends go on walks all the time." He replied, putting his hands in the air. I eyed him suspiciously. Finally I agreed, grabbed my jacket and my phone, then closed the door behind me, walking out with Maxon.

"So, mr. Celebrity, how's it going?" I asked. He grinned like a fool as we walked on.

"Pretty great." He replied. I felt weird as we passed a few other people in the halls, but Maxon didn't seem to notice there stares, I however, noticed each and everyone of their gazes.

 **Hi! So sorry I haven't updated in the last few months. Life has been busy and I haven't been feeling like writing. Please review and tell me what you think and what should be included. I also have a question for you guys. What do you think should be the mascot of Illean prep? I was debating between the lions, Royals, or something else, please help me decide! Or if you have any other suggestions I'd love to hear them!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello :) as promised I have finally written a chapter for this story. I'm sorry it's been so long. Life is chaos. Thanks so much for understanding (I hope you're understanding right now) anyways this chapter picks up right after the last one (Maxon and America just departed from her room to walk around the gardens to refresh your memory, I know it's been awhile) so without further ado I present to you chapter 7!**

Me and Maxon walked out of the dorms and into the fresh gardens and the flashback of the night we met here and embarrassment from the night flooded me all again. I felt my cheeks growing warm just from the memory.

Being in the gardens was nice however, the fresh air was very crisp and nice compared to the stuffy dorms. I looked around at all the colorful flowers in bloom and soon I was wandering the aisles upon aisles of beautiful flowers. Maxon was trailing somewhere around me the whole time. Occasionally he would point out a flower he liked, or reminded him of his mother, something like that.

"Over here" Maxon called and I followed him into a small area with a little fountain. All around the little space were walls intertwined with rose bushes. The realization hit me like a bus that no one was around back here and I wondered why exactly he'd called me back here.

"Oh um America," Maxon started but I didn't hear what he said after that becasue he was leaning closer and I was getting more nervous.

Next thing I knew my knee was up, as an instinct, and I had kneed him right in the thigh, at least I thought it was his thigh. I stepped back, looking around for something to defend myself with.

"Don't come any closer!" I shouted but I doubt he heard me over all his groaning. I must have hit him hard.

"Americaa, what was thatt for?!" He yelled in between sounds of pain.

"I know your type. It was self defense." I replied quickly but I was starting to wonder if maybe he was not doing what I had thought.

"What? America there was a bug on your shoulder! I was going to flick the bug off. What the hell were you thinking?" He spat out. He was calming down slightly.

My face was probably so red by that point that not even a tomato could compare.

"A.. A what?" I stuttered out, embarrassed beyond belief. I felt like yelling out every profanity I'd ever learned, but I held my tongue. I could not believe I just kneed the star quarter back, and son of the dean, in the thigh. God I was going to be kicked out of college, all over a bug!

I didn't know what to do. Finally I apoligized and slipped away into the path we had followed to get there. I ran back to my dorm, my heart pumping faster than a rabbits. I felt so bad. I couldn't believe I had done that.

I ended up not heading back to my room immediately. First I wandered to the class halls, and I peaked around outside. I soon grew bored of looking through the windows of large classrooms so instead I opted to go check out the girls living area. Apparently it was a place where people could hang out but no one seemed to ever use it, preferring the usage of their personal dorms or the rec building.

As I suspected the hang out room was empty. The plaque on the door read 'women's room' which sounded more like the name of a bathroom to me, but I went in anyways.

Inside was a purple couch, a tv, a soda vending machine, and a pinball machine. It actually looked pretty cool. I made a mental note to invite Marlee here later. That is of course of I don't get kicked out for assaulting some one. Especially someone as important as the star quarter back. I tried not to think about that though.

 **Alright so short chapter I know, but I'm back! Yay! And I need your guy's help. So this was a pretty big moment in Maxerica history, and next up is a rebel attack, now I don't know about you but I highly doubt rebels would want to attack a uni because they hated the dean. So what I'm thinking is it will be a football game between Illean preps rival school, the southern rebels? What do you guys think. Also the school mascot will be revealed next chapter so keep giving me ideas! Thanks for continuing to read ever after I've been gone for so long, bye guys!**


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